It was during Franklin Roosevelt's first term that Will Rogers is said to have joked: "I am a member of no organized political party — I am Democrat." As the dust of this momentous midterm election settles, that joke has been resurrected — mostly by people much less funny than Rogers — to describe the dilemma of the incoming Democratic majorities in both congressional houses.
The column by Jessica Byrom used the most idiotic and naive claims to support its arguments in, "Affirmative action discriminates, not Proposal 2; move on already" (SN 11/21). I would like to start by saying I have no stance on this issue, but the fact that this column was printed infuriated me.
Let's see if I have this right. When a Jeep, making a turn, runs down a pedestrian crossing the street, as one of those new timed walk signs is ticking down, it is the pedestrian's fault ("Getting hit by car is not my fault," SN 11/20). I have been complaining about pedestrian safety and right of way in East Lansing for many years, and unfortunately, this is typical.
I am writing this letter in response to Jessica Byrom's commentary in The State News on Tuesday "Affirmative action discriminates, not Proposal 2; move on already" (SN 11/21). While I will not call Byrom a racist, I do think her comments are a bit ignorant. Even though Proposal 2 did pass, you cannot tell me, an African American female, to just "get over it." I will learn to deal with it, but I will not get over it; that would be asking me to accept the fact that this state will lose what little diversity it has and that I will just have to accept the repercussions that will happen as a result of this. Because this proposal has passed, many people in this state will not have an opportunity to go to college, receive scholarships or even apply for a job just because it is now illegal to level the playing field for everyone.
It is often said the best corrective of an idea that you don't like is the presentation of a better idea.
New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel proposed a somewhat radical method of ensuring that the United States does not sink itself into a poorly conceived quagmire: He wants to reinstate the draft. The logic behind his suggestion is understandable.
At a conference Sunday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair finally began to talk some sense. After years of being little more than President Bush's cheerleader on the Iraq war, the "war on terror" and all of the fallout associated with both of those failures, Blair has begun to change his tune and announced a wiser and more considerate plan for the Middle East.
There's nothing like a warm helping of American hypocrisy with your coffee when you wake up in the morning.
There has been a lot of commentary recently about Proposal 2. Let me just say that while I support affirmative action as a means to provide needed opportunities and combat inequalities, I am not here to defend it.
In response to the letter, "Student voting locations should be more flexible" (SN 11/13), I'd like to let Mike Dunker know that it shouldn't matter where you're registered to vote, as long as you vote. An absentee ballot is just as good as a regular ballot — in a lot of political races, the outcome usually comes down to the results of the absentee ballots. I'm proud to say I voted via an absentee ballot because I wasn't able to make it back to my home state on Election Day. It's also hard to use the Florida elections in 2000 as justification anymore.
On Tuesday two votes in two different countries made mighty declarations for the gay community. One vote made a positive leap forward, while the other continues to support homophobia and discrimination. The same day the South African Parliament voted overwhelmingly to legalize same-sex marriage, the United States' Roman Catholic bishops passed support for initiatives to teach gay and lesbian Catholics to remain celibate by a vote of 194-37. As the first nation in Africa to remove legal barriers from same-sex marriage, the South African Parliament's decision is courageous and representative of progressive steps every country should be taking.
I've never felt more like a number, a statistic, an object, than I do now. At random parties, I've felt the stares that conversely make me feel like an object, just another young piece of ass shaking her stuff for men. Every day of college, I feel like a number, most importantly represented by a randomly assigned personal identification code that makes me unique in the eyes of MSU. I get the picture; I'm a number. But on Nov.
I have been reading article after article in The State News about students protesting and challenging the administration in regard to the passing of Proposal 2, and I have to say I'm angry about it.
I was upset at the narrow-minded column by Vanessa Notman, "Only open endorsement of Prop.
On Monday, the Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments about whether or not voters should be required to show photo ID before casting their ballot. After voting debacles in past elections, it's understandable why voting should be more closely monitored, but requiring voters to show identification is not a valid way to go about making the voting process more fluid. In Michigan, the law does not require voters to show photo IDs at the polls except in some specific circumstances, like voters who register by mail. This law discourages some people from voting rather than encouraging more citizen participation in elections.
In spite of Vanessa Notman's scolding about Proposal 2, "Only open endorsement of Prop.
For the better part of two months, student groups and university officials have been urging students to vote "no on 2." It has been on signs across campus, on shirts and heard as political advertisements on the radio.
Not a week after sweeping both the U.S. House and Senate, the Democratic Party starts to crack — and not based on Iraq policy or President Bush's tax cuts, but on the election of the majority leader of the House. This wouldn't be so bad for the Democrats if it were the first time they've splintered, but the party has a history of in-fighting.
Student loans are the perpetual thorn in the sides of most college students in the nation. Facing the exponential increase in tuition that most colleges have instituted throughout the years — costs have risen by double digits in the past decade and show no signs of slowing — students have increasingly turned to student loans. However, federal aid for students has not kept up with the ever-climbing tuition rates, causing massive student debt.